Illuminated dial



R. L. oz'r'rms 2,561,881

ILLUHINATED DIAL Filed Sgpt. 13, 1945 ROBERT L. GETTING HIS ATTORNEY Patented July 24, 1951 ILLUMINATED DIAL Robert L. Getting, South Euclid, Ohio, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 13, 1945, Serial No. 616,083 4 Claims. (01. 40-130) My invention relates to illuminated dials and its principal object is to provide such a dial of simple, compact structure readily mountable in cabinets of radios or the like. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of species thereof, from the appended claims and from the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a species of my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevational, partly sectional view thereof taken along the line 2-2 Of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another species of my invention; Fig. 4 is a side elevational, partly sectional view of the dial shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of another species of my invention.

The illuminated dial I shown in Figs. 1 and 2 f the drawing comprises a cup-like member 2 having walls of substantial thickness consisting of light transmitting material .which may be glass but which is preferably an organic plastic, such as methyl methacrylate. The dial face 3 is constituted by the rim or end surface of the cup-like member 2 which is provided with scale markings 4 suitable for a radio dial. The bottom of the cup 2 has an aperture (Fig. 2) in which an incandescent lamp 6 may be inserted. Light from the lamp 6 enters the wall of the cup 2 and travels within the wall to the dial face 3 being directed to and through said face by the inside and outside surfaces of the cup 2. When the lamp 6 is energized the dial face 3 appears luminous with the markings 4, which are preferably opaque, clearly silhouetted against the luminous cup 2. An opaque indicator or needle 1 carried on a curved arm 8 mounted on a rotatable shaft 9 in back of the cup 2 and in line with the cup axis is disposed in front of and silhouetted against the dial face 3. The conventional means of supporting and turning the shaft 9 to indicate the position of the tuning condenser of a radio receiver, for example, has been omitted from the drawing for simplicity of illustration. The needle 1 may be rotated the full 360 degrees in front of the dial face 3.

The incandescent lamp 6 is supportedin the aperture 5 by a socket I0 having a threaded cylindrical part II which engages the threaded inner surface of an outwardly extending tubular portion l2 of the cup 2. vided with a flange I3 which rests against the outer end of the extension l2. The usual current leads may be connected to the lamp socket in for supplying energy to the lamp 3.

Various parts of a radio broadcast receiver may The socket I 0 is also probe mounted in the cup 2 to conserve space in the receiver. In the drawing I have shown a loud speaker I4 supported in the cup 2 by a circular metal plate l5 bolted as shown at l6 to lugs ll integral with the inner surface of the cup 2. The plate l5 also acts as a sound battle. The speaker I4 may be electrically connected to the other parts of the receiver by current leads which may pass through openings in the wall of cup 2.

The illuminated dial I9 shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing is similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in that it comprises a thick-walled cup 20 of light transmitting material having an aperture 5 for accommodating a lamp 6 and scale markings 4 on its rim or end surface which constitutes the face 2| 0f the dial. In this embodiment, however, the cup 20 is divided into three segments 22, 23 and 24 by opaque baffles 25, 26 and 21 and the lamp 6 is partially enclosed by a rotatable tubular metal shield 23 which has :a window 29 (Fig. 4) of such size, 120 degrees for example, that light from the enclosed lamp 3 may illuminate one of the segments 22, 23 or 24 ofthe cup 20 and, of course, the portion of the dial face 2| on the rim or end surface of the illuminated segment.

A shaft 30 extends from the shield 28 through an electrically insulating, opaque disc 3| closing the mount Of the cup 20. Its outer end carries a knob 32 of electrically insulating material by which the shield 28 may be manually rotated to select the segment of the cup 20 and the section of the dial face 2| to be illuminated by the lamp 6. The open end of the shield 28 is closed by and bears on the cylindrical part 33 of the socket 34 for the lamp 6. The socket 34 is mounted on the cup 20, which preferably consists of an organic plastic, by a tubular metal support 35, secured to the back surface of the cup 20 by small bolts 36. The support 35 comprises an end disc 31 of electrically insulating material to which the lamp socket 34 is attached. The end disc 31 also has attached thereto a plurality of electric contacts as which may be connected to the radio receiver circuit in such manner that electrically connecting different pairs of said contacts 38 tunes the receiver to different bands of radio wavelengths. An arm 39 is provided on the shield 28 for connecting diilerent pairs of contacts 38 as the indicator knob 32 is rotated. The position of the window 29 in the shield 23 is correlated with the position of the arm 39 and the contacts 33 so that the segment of the dial l2 illuminated by the lamp 6 indicates the wavelength band to which the radio receiver is tuned.

The cavity in the cup 20 may accommodate parts of a radio receiver, such asa tuning condenser 40 shown in Fig. 4. The interleaved plates of the condenser 40 may engage a hollow shaft 42 rotatable on the shaft 3|! controlling the shield 28. The hollow shaft 42 passes through and bears against the side of an opening in the disc 3| and terminates short of the selector knob 32. A knob 43 of electrically insulating material is provided on the end of the shaft 42 andan opaque indicating needle 44 is fixedly mounted on the part of the hollow shaft 42 between the disc 3| and the tuning knob 43. The end of the needle 44 is opposite and silhouetted against the dial face 2| to indicate the wavelength to which the radio receiver circuit is tuned. The plates 45 making up the rotor of the condenser 40 are fixed to the hollow shaft 42 so as to rotate therewith and the hollow shaft 42 rotates in openings in the plates 45 making up the stator. The stator plates are held stationary by the strip 41 secured to each plate 45 and which may be embedded in disc 3| as shown at 48.

The embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. is similar to that shown in Figs. 3 and 4 in that a generally cup-shaped,light transmitting member 50 is divided into three segments 5|, 52 and 53 by opaque baffles 54, 55 and 55. In this embodiment, however, the segments are portions of cups and each has an aperture 51 in its bottom for accommodating an incandescent lamp. Different segments of the face of the dial constituted by the adjoining rims or end surfaces of the cups may be selectively illuminated by energizing the respective lamps or the entire face of the dial may be illuminated by simultaneously energizing all of the lamps.

The opaque baiiles of the dials shown in Figs. 3 to 4 may consist of dark colored plastic strips or of reflecting metal strips when the other parts of the cups consist of organic plastic. Dark colored glass battles are suitable when the other cup parts are of glass.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An illuminated dial comprising a cup-shaped member of substantial wall thickness and of light-transmitting material having an end surface constituting the face of the dial, an aperture spaced from said end surface and side surfaces each substantially larger in area than said end surface and adapted to direct to and through said end surface light traveling within said member from said aperture, a light source in said aperture, and light-intercepting indicia on said end surface to provide brightness contrasts on the dial face.

2. An illuminated dial comprising a cup-shaped member of substantial wall thickness and of lighttransmitting material havingan end surface constituting the face of the dial, an aperture in its light source in said aperture and light-intercept ing indicia on said end surface to provide brightness contrasts on the dial face.

3. An illuminated dial comprising a cup-shaped member of substantial wall thickness and of lighttransmitting material having an end surface constituting the face of the dial, an aperture in its bottom and side surfaces each substantially larger in area than said end surface and adapted to direct to and through said end surface light traveling within said member from said aperture, a light source in said aperture, and light-intercepting indicia on said end surface to provide brightness contrasts on the dial face, said cup-shaped member having opaque baffles extending from said aperture to said end surface and dividing said member into segments and said dial com prising also a rotatable shield about said light source, said shield having a window for selectively passing light into'each of said segments.

4. An illuminated dial comprising a cup-shaped member of substantial wall thickness and of lighttransmitting material having an end surface constitutingthe face of the dial, apertures spaced from said end surface and side surfaces each substantially larger in area than said end surface and adapted to direct to and through said end surface light traveling within said member from said apertures, a light source in each of said apertures and light-intercepting indicia on said end surface to provide brightness contrasts on the dial face, said cup-shaped member having opaque baffles extending from the center thereof to said end surface and between said apertures to divide said member into segments.

ROBERT L. GETTING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany July 16, 1923 

